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Over supply of mangoes in Philippines due to El Niño

The agriculture secretary, Emmanuel Piñol, said mango farmers had reported an “unusual increase” in the harvest, which they had attributed to El Niño, the climate phenomenon that has led to unusually hot, dry weather this year.

One the Philippine island of Luzon alone there is a surplus of about 2m kg of mangoes, according to Piñol, an oversupply that has led the price to drop from 58 pesos (88p) to as low as 25 pesos (38p) per kilogram.

Piñol stressed the urgency of dealing with the glut before the fruit went to waste and sent the price of mangoes crashing further, hurting farmers. “We need to do something about this in the next two weeks,” he added.

In a bid to make sure that the excess mangoes do not rot, the agriculture department has launched a marketing campaign, dubbed “Metro Mango”, to try to shift a million kilograms of the fruit in Metro Manila, with stalls selling mangoes to be put up all around the capital throughout June. The fresh mangoes will be sold at 25 pesos (38p) to 50 pesos (75p) a kilogram to entice buyers, who will get the low prices only if they buy in bulk.

Foreign interest in the cheap mangoes is helping ease the burden. A Japanese fruit importer has pledged to purchase 100,000kg of the mangoes, though this still leaves 1.9m kg to shift. Piñol said it were also hoping to increase daily mango imports to Hong Kong and Dubai.